Rome -Italy may not be rated as highly as England, but they could just as easily upstage South Africa when the two sides meet in Florence.
Springbok assistant coach Johann van Graan said they will not let their guard down, despite Italy's 68-10 loss to the All Blacks last week.
The Boks, on the same day, lost 21-37 to a fired-up England team. “They [Italy] pose a very different threat to England, as they don't play as much rugby,” Van Graan told a media briefing at the team's base in Florence. “They use a long kicking game and try and pin you in your own half. “They have a very good scrum, which they try and get penalties from a lot.
He also described the Azzurri who is lead by their world-class No 8 Argentina-born Sergio Parisse as a “very good leg-tackling side”. “We faced a lot of upper body tackles [against England] last weekend,” the Bok assistant said.
“Their leg tackles and second man in are quite good. “They also have [Sergio] Parisse, who is their talisman. “In my opinion, Parisse is one of the premier players in world rugby. He can do special things and has done special things in the past.”
Van Graan was full of plaudits for the Boks' set pieces against England.
“I thought that was the best scrum performance against England in the last five years.
“We got 100 percent positive results out of our scrums [against England]. “In terms of our line-out play we surprised them with quite a few things we did. “Line-outs are a big weapon of ours and we will use it again this coming weekend.
“We are playing against a side that does things differently, but when it comes to our line-out attack and our scrum attack we are going to stick to what we do well.”
African News Agency (ANA)